Jacqueline Carey's Miranda and Caliban is a truly remarkable novel that breathes new life into Shakespeare's The Tempest by offering a fresh and moving perspective on its two most compelling characters. This book beautifully explores the complicated relationship between Miranda and Caliban, granting these marginalized characters a chance to express their own voices, desires, and struggles. Carey's writing is exquisite, poetic, and deeply human, bringing to life a magical and intricate world that feels both familiar and otherworldly. The characters are complex and well-drawn, revealing themselves as multidimensional beings with their own unique journeys, motivations, and fears. The novel's themes of power, betrayal, and redemption are masterfully explored, inviting readers to engage with the story in a more personal and reflective way. Miranda and Caliban is a true gem of literary fiction, and it will undoubtedly resonate with anyone who loves to read emotionally powerful and deeply resonant stories. Carey's masterful storytelling and poetic prose make this book an absolute must-read for anyone who seeks to discover new worlds, perspectives, and emotions.

Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey weaves an enchanting retake on Shakespeare's The Tempest focusing on the star crossed romance between the lovely Miranda and the wild Caliban. You can’t help but to be rooting for them despite the heartbreaking ending you suspect will come once the last words are written across the pages. The writing is gorgeous while the dynamics grow increasingly dangerous.

I was really excited to read this book - I loved studying The Tempest at school but this simply didn't do it for me. I found the characters repetitive and difficult to follow for the whole duration of the book. I would have liked for them to be more complex as I find the tempest so interesting. In particular I would have liked for Miranda to be more active and drive the story forward more. As for the writing style, while it was beautiful at times at others it was quite dense and I found it difficult to keep reading. I wasn't able to finish this book but maybe will give it another go at another time.

“Miranda,” he murmurs. “I do love you, and I will wait for you always.”
I lay my hand over his. “I know.”
And then there is nothing left to say.


This retelling of The Tempest switches the story to the perspectives of Miranda and Caliban--the daughter of the magus, Prospero, and a feral witch's son--and the story through their eyes. I will say that I love character driven narrative and alternating perspectives! I think that was a great choice by the author to breathe life into characters who have rather minor, powerless roles in the original tale.

For me, personally, what kind of kills the tale is that so much of the book has nothing going on. For a book that's supposed to focus more on Miranda and Caliban, a lot of the narrative is focused on Prospero being moody and evasive and Miranda being naive and obedient. The best part of the book is probably the last 25-30% because it's more complex and emotional. I think the author wanted to encapsulate as much of The Tempest as possible, but in doing so, didn't give as much time to seeing Miranda and Caliban develop a relationship as we did seeing Prospero manipulate things to get his grand revenge with his daughter as a pawn.

Now, I'm not very familiar with The Tempest, but I do know that Miranda was kind of passive and obedient, doing as the men around her told her, so it's not shocking that Miranda in this book is more or less completely trusting, obedient, ignorant, and loyal to her father for most of the book, but it still wasn't good to read. I get that the point was to, through age and experience, lose that naive innocence and realize that things are grey and stark and complex, that people are more complex than she believed, that right and wrong aren't so clear, that she herself unknowingly has done bad things in ignorance, that being a woman (well, 14) is fraught with so much more terrible understanding than she expected. It's an interesting transformation to read, seeing a child realize things and how empty and awful it is to understand things you were once so blissfully blind to, even if there were times I couldn't stand her.

Caliban was definitely made a lot more sympathetic and real. I think the book's retelling aspect was best in this regard. He's more humanized and complex than the ugly dolt who just wanted to impregnate Miranda and kill Prospero in the original tale; he wants to touch Miranda because he loves her, he wants to kill Prospero because he hates how he's able to hurt Miranda and wishes to take her from the isle he's loved and called home and been with his only friend and love. Some people mentioned in their reviews that Caliban masturbated too much, but that's kind of what teenage boys with raging hormones who suddenly discover how wonderful women are and how their bodies crave certain sensations do, so I didn't find it strange, since the context was intended to show Caliban's feelings changing towards Miranda and how they torment him and to showcase how he feels unworthy and filthy and awful because others told him so, not just to go, "Wow! Look at the horny monster!" It's about the conflict of self loathing and desire and loss of innocence.

As I said, the last about 30% was the best because it was the most action filled and emotional. Miranda comes into herself, Caliban is free and he realizes his errors but is steadfast in his devotion to Miranda, Prospero's plan has been realized, Ariel is free, and yet, there such a sadness and tragedy and hurt as Caliban is left on the isle to wait alone and Miranda sails away to a life her father has wrought out for her without her knowledge or consent to be heartsick over all the things she understands and the reality she faces. I did very much enjoy the depth there, I just wish most of the book had had this and not just a section of it. 2/3 was rather uneventful and boring.

The worst character by far is Prospero. Sexist, arrogant, selfish, hiding behind his magic and his smarts and believing himself a man with little fault, who hurts his daughter in anger and enslaves both her will and Caliban's, who uses love potions and creates monstrous homonculuses and does not answer questions and is quick to judge and condemn others. I absolutely hate him! I wish he'd gotten some comeuppance besides sacrificing his magic to ensure Ferdinand would love Miranda and cart her off to make her a royal again.

Overall, not a bad read, but it wasn't as good as I'd been hoping.

One day, you will send for me. Until then, I will think you and remember.
You in the sunlight.
You on the grass.
You with the yellow flowers.


I received an ARC of this from NetGalley in 2016 and also purchased a hardcover copy for myself sometime later, but the ARC in no way affects my review or rating.

A fascinating retelling of The Tempest with a different slant. If you’re a Shakespeare fan, this might catch your fancy. It’s definitely worth your time to read it. I recommend it.

Loved this reimaging of The Tempest. The main viewpoint is that of Prospero's young daughter, Miranda. Marooned on an island with her father, her life has been marked by isolation. She hasn't questioned her father's authority, or his agenda. But when the wizard captures the wild boy, Caliban, and imprisons him in their home as a kind of experiment, gradually the walls of everything Miranda has taken for granted will start to crumble.

I loved this retelling of a familiar story. It's dark, but compelling.

It's The Tempest meets Return to the Blue Lagoon. (Not even the original Blue Lagoon: it uses too many beats from the sequel!)

The Tempest is a play that I really love, and I am down for pretty much any version of it that comes down the pike, so I was excited to read this. I like how Carey humanizes Caliban, and how she depicts daily life on this magic island. I also appreciated how Prospero is basically a complete ass. His daughter Miranda grows up under his wing, never questioning him not because she thinks he is always right but because she is too afraid of him. And with reason.

That Miranda and Caliban would... let's say, get physically curious about one another in their isolated circumstances is where the whole Lagoon thing comes in. Their budding romance is sweet but also a little crude and surprisingly graphic for what is essentially a YA novel.

It is basically only Prospero's narrow view of females as sexual bargaining chips with very little agency of their own that causes problems for everyone else. This is an eminently relevant interpretation of Prospero, for our modern times, and one, again, that I can appreciate as a reaction to Shakespeare's original characterization of him. But it doesn't necessarily make for pleasant reading. Especially considering how the book ends.

I enjoyed this book for what it is, and since I own (but have not yet read) other books by Jacqueline Carey, I'm glad to learn that she is a good writer. But I wish that she'd kept a few more of the subtexts of Shakespeare's original intact rather than going in so hard from the straight-up romance angle.

This is a retelling of The Tempest by William Shakespeare. You don’t actually need any prior knowledge of the play to get the story (everything is nicely explained within), though if you already love this play there is a high chance that you are going to love this book as well. Personally I just didn’t enjoy the book and The Tempest isn’t one of my favourite Shakespeare plays either.

I didn’t enjoy the writing style all that much. I felt that too many words were piled on per sentence, the same thing could have been said with a lot less words. It just felt as if the author was trying too hard to make it sound poetic. That in turn felt very forced. Though I think this comes down to personal preference, as I’m sure there are a lot people who enjoy this type of writing.

I also found the story to be rather boring. In the beginning I was actually interested in what was going on, but as the story progressed I got more and more bored by it. By the end I felt detached from everything surrounding this book, I was just happy to be done with it. I think the writing style contributed a lot to this, I felt that there were a lot of words used for very little that was actually happening.

I honestly didn’t care much for the characters. Though I did feel for both Miranda and Caliban, they both have had awful childhoods yet they managed to persevere to the best of their abilities. Prospero is a character that I hated, he was seriously awful, there were so many instances that I was uncomfortable with him being in the picture. In general this book made me uncomfortable, there was Prospero but there were a lot more things that bothered me (which I can’t get into because of spoilers). I didn’t feel the romance between Miranda and Caliban either, it felt very lacklustre.

All in all this book just wasn’t for me. Personally I wouldn’t recommend it.

I liked the premise of getting deeper into the Tempest, but the ending... sigh. I would have liked to have some of the questions answered instead of just ending.

This review will post on Wednesday, October 11 on VBPL Recommends at https://vbplrecommends.blogspot.com/2017/10/miranda-and-caliban-by-jacqueline-carey.html

“We are such stuff
As dreams are made on…” (Prospero, 4.1.173-4)

That line? It is probably as familiar as what happens in The Tempest: A storm forces Prince Ferdinand and his ship to a mostly deserted island inhabited by Prospero, his daughter (Miranda), a feral servant (Caliban), and a number of elementals. The Prince and Miranda fall in love, and the Prince takes her and her father home. The end. Happily ever after.

It is Shakespeare, and his writing brought this story to life in a way that still resonates today. Carey, more known for her bold and subversive fantasy, is more understated and quietly challenges the play’s storyline. The Tempest was Prospero’s story, while Caliban served as comic relief, and Miranda was the pretty token. This retelling is Miranda and Caliban’s story. Carey fleshes out the backstory of life on the island before the events of the play along with Prospero’s careful scheming, adds a doomed romance between Miranda and Caliban, and gets into the minds of both of them. Though an imaginative what-if, readers get to know them better, watch them grow up together, and see their role in how the story turned out. Both of them have more agency, though still limited, which makes it all the more bittersweet when readers know how the story ends.

The retelling is subtly subversive and does not add anything shockingly different, plot-wise, from what happens in the play. Miranda is sheltered and, though educated by her father, she is naïve about the world and people outside the island. The most subversive element is the change of Prospero’s character from protagonist to a more controlling villainous one. Miranda is the dutiful daughter, any rebellion effectively quelled by Prospero’s magic. It allows Carey to justify Miranda’s obedience to her father while retaining a historical feel of the expected role Miranda plays as daughter and woman. She has a good heart and is a kind person in unusual circumstances. Seeing the story from Miranda and Caliban’s eyes, there is more of a challenge to Miranda’s courtship and the play’s supposed happy ending. Her budding but doomed romance with Caliban gives heart to the story and drives it forward to its conclusion. The expected ending is rather bittersweet, hanging tentatively between hope and denial, possibility and hard reality. With the play and the retelling ending at the same place, readers are left to wonder what becomes of Miranda and Caliban and what will either do afterwards.

Look for Miranda and Caliban in the VBPL Catalog. Though this a more subtle and understated work, try some of Jacqueline Carey’s more shocking fantasy titles. The classic Tempest by William Shakespeare is a definite and certainly adds to this retelling. See the modern retelling of The Tempest on DVD with Helen Mirren as Prospera. For more Shakespeare retellings, try L. Jagi Lamplighter’s Prospero’s Children series and the Hogarth Shakespeare series in which various authors were commissioned to retell a Shakespeare work, including Margeret Atwood's Hag Seed (The Tempest retelling).

This book will definitely be liked by fans of "The Tempest". Funny though that I went in without reading the original, yet, even so, from other works by Shakespeare it was clear enough to me that the origin story could not have ended well for Miranda.

Sure, that was true enough and here in this novel, we saw the relationship between Miranda and Caliban unfold, from their friendship to true feelings, until it all went up in flames. I liked the narration for Caliban as he learned to express himself little by little, I also liked Miranda's character a lot. However, I guess the story arc just didn't resonate deeply enough with me even though I acknowledge it is written masterfully and really expands on the world of "The Tempest".

The Good
This is a retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a play that I’m not terribly familiar with, which I think added to my enjoyment of the book. I didn’t know how things were going to end, and so I kept reading in order to find out. I was very invested in the story and in Miranda and Caliban.

Carey’s language was quite lovely. While some reviewers found the characters’ speech odd, I nver found it jarring. The narration itself was also often beautiful.

This story sucked me right in and ended up being quite moving and, in many ways, tragic.

The Bad
It was clear at the end of the book that something needed to be done to tie the events to Shakespeare’s original story. While it worked for the most part, the change could be felt and at times I found myself annoyed with both Miranda and Caliban. Some of the decisions they made once the story made the final turn toward its conclusion just didn’t strike me as completely true to what the characters had done before.

The Verdict
This was a lovely story and a great retelling. It’s quiet and beautiful and I definitely recommend it.

It's been a Tempestuous season, with the release of Margaret Atwood's 'Hag-Seed,' and then Carey's 'Miranda and Caliban.'
The authors' takes on Shakespeare's tale couldn't be more different, however. Where Atwood went for a humorous modern parallel, Carey's tale is earnest.

The main viewpoint is that of Prospero's young daughter, Miranda. Marooned on an island with her father, her life has been marked by isolation. She hasn't questioned her father's authority, or his agenda. But when the wizard captures the wild boy, Caliban, and imprisons him in their home as a kind of experiment, gradually the walls of everything Miranda has taken for granted will start to crumble.

The point of view shifts between the two young people, as they gradually get to know one another - and the emotions that one would expect to arise when you have two young humans alone together predictably develop. Unfortunately for young love, Prospero has other plans for Miranda. He certainly doesn't plan to see his daughter wed to someone he considers a savage when he has plans to use her as a tool; a critical part of his grand scheme for personal revenge. And it's hard to keep young love a secret when the unpredictable and resentful sprite Ariel is around.

It's not a bad book, and I liked its focus on humanizing Caliban. However, I'm less enthusiastic regarding de-emphasizing the wonderful political scheming and mad twists and turns of the original Tempest in favor of a gradual and drawn-out love story. That's simply a personal preference.

Many thanks to Tor and NetGalley for the opportunity to read.

cover102888-mediumThe tale of Prospero’s quest for revenge from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is of course well known. But this book asks what of his daughter Miranda? The pawn in his twisted game. Or Caliban, apparently just a savage that Prospero chained to his will?

Here we meet Miranda, a loving child who wants to spread happiness and doesn’t understand her father’s paranoid control. She understands kindness and compassion though and longs to rebel but knows her father’s magic is too powerful for her. Here too is Caliban, a lost and frightened child who finds in Miranda solace and joyful companionship. He resents Prospero’s enslaving of him and manipulation of Miranda. Of course the spirit Ariel flits through the story too as cataclysmic a force as could be imagined with every small sentence that drops from his lips leaving confusion and calamity all around.

If you know the play then you’ll have a fair idea where the story is going from the start but don’t let that dissuade you from taking the journey. The writing is a real pleasure, at once sumptuous and spare, Carey portrays the characters with a few deft strokes but then washes colour and light through them so the depths of their souls are displayed.

And in many ways this is an untold story as it deals with the twelve years that Prospero and Miranda were exiled and according to Carey there is much more to be said about Prospero as a father and Miranda as a girl growing up with little human companionship than the play explores. What does she remember if anything of her pampered life before exile? How can she trust a man who uses cruelty to have what’s best for her at heart?

There is plenty of tension and conflict in the book, honestly I wasn’t sure all if Carey would return to Shakespeare’s Tale or upend it completely, the ending is not so fixed as you might imagine …

4 Stars - I recommend if you enjoy coming of age stories with magical themes. This is a retelling of The Tempest.

Miranda knows her father, and her island... and that is it. They live alone in a peaceful world. Her father toils over his work, which he will not explain to her. One day her father seeks to capture the wild boy, the only other human inhabitant on the island, and tame him. The boy is named Caliban and fights his capture. Over time Miranda and the boy become friends, and she teaches him to speak and to be "civilized". They bond as young friends, and as they are both held captive by Miranda's father. One day Miranda's father releases a wild elemental spirit who wreaks havoc upon their lives. What is Miranda's father up to? When will Miranda find out? What makes them better than Caliban or the spirits they command to do their bidding?

Overall this book was really interesting. I am not familiar with The Tempest, so I didn't quite know what to expect and I cannot speak to how closely it re-tells.... but, I enjoyed that this book had fantasy elements to it, but I also enjoyed that it was a side-by-side coming of age story between the two characters. It's a very vivid portrayal of the confusion that occurs when you become an adult. Parts of it also reminded me of things like Tarzan, for obvious reasons. There were some uncomfortable parts related to animal sacrifice, and others related to puberty/sexuality. But overall I found it really holistic and vivid. I liked the mystery of what Miranda's father was up to. Ultimately, I felt like there was a lot going on, a little too much perhaps... but that I was very absorbed by the world. It was left a little open ended, so I wonder if there is a sequel set up happening? I almost would have preferred and epilogue if so. We shall see. Overall, I really enjoyed this one!

I didn't read The Tempest until I got to university, despite starting my love affair with Shakespeare years earlier! Unlike most of his other plays, I struggled with The Tempest a lot, confused about many of the characters, the storyline, etc. It took me a long time to develop an appreciation for the play, and up until a few days ago I would have counted it as one of my least favourite plays. And then Jacqueline Carey's Miranda and Caliban happened. Her novel has given me a whole new appreciation for the play, for the different themes playing under the surface and for Carey's excellent writing. Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book!

Adapting any classic piece of literature is a momentous task. You have to find a balance between honouring the original but also creating something new that holds up on its own. And then there is the enormous legacy that comes with someone like Shakespeare, whose name has almost become synonymous with literary excellence. I myself have often felt disparaging towards adaptations or retellings of my favourite books, since I have such an attachment to the originals. Often I have been surprised by how much I ended up loving the adaptations. Since The Tempest has always left me rather confused, I wasn't sure what to expect going into Miranda and Caliban. Would this be a straight up love story that ignores many of the issues thrown up in the play? Would the novel explore these characters in a way the play doesn't? In the end the novel completely blew me out of the water. Carey deals with the opposition between good and bad, ignorance and innocence, servitude and freedom, and brings it all together in a beautiful tragedy. For those fearing a love story, this is not a romance. Love is a part of this story, but there is much more to it.

For me the true power of Miranda and Caliban lies in how Carey liberates her two main characters from the characterisations they have been stuck in. In Shakespeare's play Miranda is very much a side-character to the Prospero-show, the kind of girl who is calm and quiet and falls in love with the first prince she sees. Caliban, on the other hand, is as close to the 'noble savage' archetype as a character can get. He is a monster, the child of a witch and a demon, and Shakespeare himself seems torn between representing him as an unjustly mistreated wretch and a cunning and sly opportunist. In Carey's Miranda and Caliban these two characters are fleshed out, given colour and life and motivations. The novel starts with a six-year old Miranda observing her father's magic, lonely on the island but aware there is a boy out there. When Caliban is lured into the house by Prospero's spells, the novel really takes off as Miranda becomes Caliban's teacher. As they grow up, they both start to strain against Prospero's tight hold over their lives and their realities, as well grow aware of each other and themselves in different ways. Carey really manages to evoke a sense of the loneliness and isolation of the island, as well as the conflicting forces pulling on both Miranda and Caliban. I want to just quickly go into some details regarding both of their characterisations.

Carey turns Miranda into a fully-fledged character. We get to witness her growing from child to woman, becoming more aware of the extent to which her father controls her whole life. Whether it is her life before the island or the physical realities of becoming a woman, Miranda lives her life constantly in the dark, waiting for Prospero to declare her "ready". I have seen the word 'Stockholm-syndrome' floating around and in a way that does describe Miranda's relationship with her father rather well. She loves him, but that is because he is all she has. She tiptoes around him, yet hangs on his every word. By teaching Caliban, Miranda is given the chance to consider everything around her anew, to attempt to take control of her own life. Carey does the same for Caliban, imbuing his chapters with a painful awareness of his position. His chapters start out as three-word sentences, but as he learns more his chapters grow to become very insightful and beautiful. Carey addresses a lot of the themes that have made Caliban a controversial character. His origins are a point of contention for him, constantly being used to abuse him and put him down, as is his appearance. Carey's Caliban is a very deep and interesting character, who is full of emotions and conflict. As a reader you can't help but ache for both of these characters, who are so deprived and yet struggle to find silver linings.

Carey's writing in Miranda and Caliban is masterful. She captures the fluidity and eloquence of Shakespeare's language without making her writing feel or sound archaic and stuffy. Shakespeare never underestimated the power of words and this is a major theme in The Tempest, which finds a beautiful reflection in Carey's writing. A highlight is Ariel, who is the only character to retain a Shakespearian way of speaking. The novel is saturated with beautiful phrases like the one below:
"Thou art the shoals on which Caliban wilt dash his heart to pieces."
With language like this it shouldn't come as a surprise that Miranda and Caliban is heartbreaking. As in any tale that is doomed from the start, there is a sense of dread mixed with hope that grows and grows while reading this novel. There is the hope that Miranda and Caliban will free themselves, that what you know must happen won't. In that sense Carey has well and truly mastered the art of retelling a famous story. Even though everyone knows what will happen, it doesn't matter for a single minute because the reader is too caught up in her version of the story. There is not a moment you will get bored of this novel and when it ends you'll wish it hadn't.

I absolutely loved Miranda and Caliban. It is a beautiful novel and a masterful retelling of a Shakespeare classic. Carey infuses her characters with a sense of life they didn't have before and you'll be sorry to see them go at the end of the novel. I'd recommend this to fans of Shakespeare, retellings and literary fiction.

This was a very hard book to review. The author does an excellent job of breathing new life into the story. However, it just did not live up to the original. Retellings of classics are hard to do, and Mrs. Carey is a talented author. She just could not draw me into her story.

An amazingly lyrical love story within a mysterious fantasy. Many who are familiar with Shakespeare's Tempest will have a clue about how the story is going to end. But this doesn't lessen the suspense inherent in the story between Miranda and Caliban. The story is always from their perspective and neither truly knows the whole backstory behind Miranda's father Prospero nor his motivation in manipulating them for his own purposes. Unlike the play the focus is the side story of Miranda's existence on the island with her only friend Caliban. Their growing friendship is beautifully told, and it's eventual morphing into love tinged with an aching knowledge that it can never happen. Making a "creature" like Caliban into a figure that can and is loved could be difficult, but the author executes this challenge masterfully. The end of this novel is heartbreaking.

In Miranda and Caliban (review copy from Tor, through NetGalley), Jacqueline Carey gives us a thoughtful exploration of the backstory to one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, The Tempest.  It's a short book, but one packed with thoughtful insight and commentary on the source material. 
Miranda and Caliban focuses on Miranda's childhood, with the events of the play only covered briefly towards the end of the book.  For all that it's a close rendering of the play it gives a radically different and fresh perspective on the story.  Carey's retelling draws out the toxic impact of Prospero's desire for revenge and the abusive relationship that has created with his daughter.  Miranda is a tool for his revenge, a person he controls and exploits to enable that revenge and return to power.  She is infantilised and denied information, but expected to perform services in pursuit of her father's revenge agenda.  This is a Prospero who cares little of her wishes or feelings, playing his daughter as a card to engage the interest of those shipwrecked on the island.
Carey's Caliban is a misunderstood creature.  Judged for his physical appearance and isolated upbringing he is seen by Prospero as ignorant and fit only for menial labour.  It is under Miranda's help and care that he grows and blossoms and learns.  Caliban is as exploited by Prospero as Miranda, his potential and skills overlooked except where they can be used to advance Prospero's agenda.  But unlike Miranda, Caliban isn't family.  And his status as the child of a witch means he will never be able to transcend the strict class boundaries of that society. 
Goodreads rating: 3*